For The Union-Tribune
Smell or cell?
A recent study found that one-quarter of college students, and 15 percent of the general public, said that they would choose their mobile devices over their olfactory abilities.
But people who have anosmia — the loss of smell — are more often depressed, experience muted emotions, have dietary complications and literally aren’t able to sniff out dangers like smoke — outcomes that can actually reduce life expectancy.
The study examined the nasal airflow of 21 people who couldn’t smell and 31 people who could. Researchers found that people who couldn’t smell were breathing differently both while awake and asleep. People who could smell had many more small “inhalation peaks” per hour while awake, likely meaning they were doing some “exploratory sniffing.”
Body of knowledge
It’s been estimated that one in five newborns has a nasal septal deviation, otherwise known as a crooked nose. Ancient Romans considered a crooked nose to be a sign of a good leader.
Stories for the waiting room
Loss of consciousness, appearing dazed or confused and mood changes are all classic signs of a concussion. Researchers may add a new one: “the spontaneous headshake after a kinematic event.” Acronym: SHAAKE.
We’ve all seen it or done it. It’s a quick shaking of the head, like you’re shaking sand out of your hair. Researchers surveyed 350 people from a concussion database, showed them videos of athletes shaking their heads after a physical collision, and asked if they remember doing the same. Most reported a SHAAKE, almost always in association with at least one concussion.
Doc talk
Oscitancy — the act of gaping or yawning. (Yawning is so contagious that research has shown that you don’t even need to see another person yawn to yawn yourself. All it may take is hearing a yawn, thinking about one or reading this definition.)
Phobia of the week
Nomophobia — fear of being without a mobile phone or internet access. Go ahead, look it up if you can.
Never say diet
The Major League Eating speed-eating record for fruitcake is 4 pounds, 14.4 ounces in 10 minutes, held by Sonya Thomas, whose competitors claimed the victory was Stollen.
Best medicine
“What’s wrong, doctor? You look puzzled.”
“I can’t figure out exactly what’s wrong with you. I think it’s the result of heavy drinking.”
“Well, in that case I’ll just come back when you’re sober.”
Hypochondriac’s guide
Alien hand syndrome is a neurological disorder in which the patient suffers impaired judgment, loss of memory skills, behavioral changes and, most notably, thinks parts of their body (usually the hands) have a mind of their own — and may be trying to kill them.
Observation
“I never smoked a cigarette until I was nine.”
— American social critic H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
Medical history
This week in 1993, the last research samples of the smallpox virus were scheduled to be destroyed. Smallpox had been among the world’s most dreaded plagues until 1977, when global vaccination efforts officially rendered it eradicated.
However, some scientists argued that some samples should remain for future research, especially should the virus re-emerge. The remaining frozen samples are stored in Moscow and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Ig Nobel apprised
The Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate achievements that make people laugh, then think. A look at real science that’s hard to take seriously, and even harder to ignore.
In 1997, the Ig Nobel Prize in psychology went to Gian Vittorio Caprara and Claudio Barbaranelli of the University of Rome La Sapienza and to Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University for their report, “Politicians’ Uniquely Simple Personalities.”
In psychological analyses, there are five measured personality traits: energy/extroversion; agreeableness/friendliness; conscientiousness; emotional stability against neuroticism; and intellect/openness to experience.
The researchers found that when people judge the personalities of politicians, they generally assess just one or two of the five factors.
Self-exam
Match these words with their body parts.
1. Kibe
2. Popliteal fossa
3. Trapple
4. Oxter
a) the heel, especially one cracked and swollen by exposure to cold
b) windpipe, a Middle English word that might be a contraction of “throat-boll” for the Adam’s apple
c) the lozenge-shaped space at the back of the knee joint
d) Old English meaning armpit
Answers: 1a; 2c; 3b; 4d
Last words
“It was the food!”
— Irish actor Richard Harris (1930-2002) while being transported by paramedics from the Savoy Hotel in London. It was actually Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of cancer, had been diagnosed two months earlier.
LaFee is vice president of communications for the Sanford Burnham Prebys research institute.
